China’s credit rating was downgraded yesterday amid concerns about its swelling debt burden and the increasing amount of lending taking place outside its official banking sector.

Fitch lowered China’s local currency rating to A+ from AA-, the first time that a big credit ratings agency has cut its assessment of China’s creditworthiness for more than a decade.

Its report cited concerns about the amount of debt building in the Chinese economy, with bank lending accounting for more than 135 per cent of GDP, the third-highest of any emerging market tracked by Fitch.